The Unamed Weight Loss Daily Blog: Part 1

The issue of weight is a touchy one for most people I know. Countless multitudes of friends and family struggle with health and body image on a daily basis. I am among the many when it comes to these things. My weight has been a constant area of struggle for me since I was a teenager. I find that my biggest issue is that I lack discipline when it comes to sticking with a weight loss plan. I'd rather have a double cheeseburger and french fries "just this once" than to make a healthier selection and stay on track. Eventually "I'll splurge just this once" turns into weeks of eating badly followed by a resolution that "this will be the last time," and I'll eat healthy for a couple of weeks, until the cravings get loud enough and the cycle begins again.

I'm hoping to change that now. I plan to write a daily blog, detailing my weight loss journey, complete with struggles, high points, disappointments, and achievements, with plenty of tips and tricks I learn along the way. I'm hoping, too, that my readers will get involved by joining in the discussion and sharing their thoughts on the blog each day through the comments section at the bottom of each post. If we band together, we'll have a better shot at achieving success, to be sure. And hopefully we'll be able to encourage one another when one of us feels like giving up or giving in.

Let me start by telling you my story. As I said before, I've struggled with my weight and body image since adolescence. I have never been able to follow a healthy eating plan for more than a couple of months. I love fast food. I love fried food. I love sugar. That is not a great arsenal of weapons to bring along in the battle of the bulge. In college I lost 25 pounds by following the Atkins Diet for about 6 weeks. I promptly gained it all back (and much more) when I started eating carbs again. Since then I've been on a roller coaster of dieting, exercise, giving up, gaining weight, and ample amounts of frustration and disappointment.

Last fall I was approached by my Aunt Janine, who is undoubtedly the most driven and goal-oriented person I have ever met. If she wants to achieve something, nothing will ever stop her from getting there. Janine generously offered a few members of my family some free personal training to help us get healthy and lose weight. She helped us figure out what our daily calorie intake should be, she gave us helpful recipes and tips for eating right. And she also helped us to formulate fitness plans to achieve our goals. I had a lot of success with Janine at the beginning. I lost about 8 pounds in the first week, and continued to lost a total of about 12 pounds over the course of the first six weeks or so. Then the holidays came, the weather got bone chillingly cold, and I lost my motivation. It was easier for me to go to Burger King for lunch than it was for me to get up early and prepare my food before I left for work. It was easier to come home and curl up in bed for an evening nap than it was to change clothes and exercise. It was easier to give in to temptation than it was to get myself on track. And I really disappointed myself. I look back now and think about all the weight I could have lost had I just stuck with the plan. But now I find myself, back at square one, ready to begin again.

My mom and I decided to try Weight Watchers this time around. We figured the accountability of having to weigh-in in front of someone at every meeting would help us to stay disciplined throughout the week. I have to admit, I have my reservations. We attended our first meeting last night and it was pretty cheesy. There was a lot of show-and-tell and clapping, and stickers being passed out, and singing....that's all I'm going to say. But if I force myself to look past the hokey, I can see that the program really is beneficial for a lot of reasons.

So I hope with this blog to provide us all with a support system as we struggle with our weight issues, whether you're in the thick of it now (pun most definitely intended), or you've already lost weight and you're trying to maintain, or maybe you're not at a place right now where you want to even think about weight loss. Wherever you are in your life, I hope this blog will provide you with support, encouragement and maybe a little bit of education. And I hope that documenting my weight loss journey every single day will help me to stick with it and to be more disciplined.

Please comment below with suggestions for topics you'd like to see on the blog, or discuss with other readers.

Let's do this together and get healthier and look better!

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12